Here are some interesting numbers I found from the event registration page provided by FIRST’s website:
Number of teams currently registered: 423
of those, …
Number of rookies (team # > 719): 58
Number of odd (numerically) teams: 209
Number of even teams: 214
Avg # of events per team: 1.93
Avg # of events per odd team: 1.82
Avg # of events per even team: 2.03
Teams attending exactly 1 event: 149
Teams attending exactly 2 events: 174
Teams attending exactly 3 events: 84
Teams attending exactly 4 events: 14
Teams attending exactly 5 events: 1
Teams attending exactly 6 events: 1
So, as it stands now, it looks like we have significantly less teams than last year. Are there teams that just haven’t registered yet?
As someone who knows (or has known) the inside scoop…a lot of teams are probably just not registered yet.
You’d be amazed at how many will sign up the week of the deadline (December 7)…so the numbers will more than likely increase dramatically toward the end of registration.
Some teams just like to wait 'til the last minute…others are waiting for sponsorship, others (rookies mostly) are just getting their team together by then…so wait…it will pick up!
I’ve been wondering about regional capacity as well. What is listed on the FIRST site for “open” capacity amounts to 722 slots, only about 25% more than last year. Considering that the new qualification rules encourage teams to attend multiple regionals, this leaves very little room for growth this year.
but…
I believe that there is a difference between “open” capacity as listed on the FIRST site and Total capacity. I would guess that there are a number of spots at each regional that have been reserved for rookies and perhaps VERY local teams. Although I can’t imagine that there is enough room to support 40%, I do think that Lori is right and there will be a lot more rookie teams signed up by the time Dec. 7th rolls around.
If some team is actually going to go to 5 weeks of regionals and the Championship Event, I don’t EVER want to hear folks using the Chief Delphi Team as the whipping boy for well funded teams again.
I think that such a team is likely to be dead by the end of it all!
Good luck to them.
Joe J.
P.S. At present Chief Delphi is with the 84 teams that are attending 2 regionals. We are trying to beg for funding to attend one more, but, given the near panic in the auto industry these days, I put the odds at less than 50/50. Time will tell. JJ
Long Island has a greater capacity than what is listed on the FIRST site.
While registration is limited to only 35 teams (and is full), we’ve been told by the regional coordinator that there is room for another 10 teams. I don’t know when and if they’ll open the registration up to more teams, but it’s been a real sticking point around here to get more Long Island teams at the Long Island regional. As things now stand, something like 22 of the 35 attending teams are from off the island. 12 are from the area, out of a total of 40, and the coordinating committee wants more local teams. Whether or not they can do that is anybody’s guess.
But, if that’s the case here, I’d imagine there’s certainly room for more teams at other regionals.
From my experience with FIRST…the capacities listed on the web site as site capacities…are ‘suggested’ limits. I believe that FIRST will let some of the ‘wait listed’ teams into particular regionals that do still have more room.
I was in VA last year and we had almost 70 teams. I thought the pit was a bit tight (but what pit isn’t??), but I thought 70 teams was a good number for that site. Right now it’s ‘full’ at 54 teams.
Wait and see…things may change!
Well, I just checked the FIRST site and there are now 39 teams registered for the LI regional, so they’ve already begun allowing more teams in. . . and they’re Long Island teams, too.
So much for automatically getting all of the rookie awards, though
There’s one spot available for Nats., too, dsepite the fact that there’s 12 teams on the waiting list. So if any even numbered teams missed out, go sign up quick!
Long Island? Last year, there were 35 teams that went to the LI regional. I think we could have had more… we buzzed through 11 rounds apiece over the two days and still finished each session with something like 45 minutes of extra time. Besides, after the “Let’s throw twenty of black balls across the field from one side to the other after EVERY game!” fiasco of last year, I’d have to think the 2002 game will be more streamlined to save time.
The only thing we might lack is pit space, but it wont be all that much of a problem, IMO. I’d say it’s safe to assume that there’ll be seven or eight more (local) teams added to Long Island’s capacity.
From the horse’s mouth, the absolute most number of teams the SCCC Campus site can accomodate is 45 teams. I’m not sure why they’d limited registration to only 35 teams, but it looks like they’re letting in local teams now.
The new additions are local, as far as I can see, including two rookie teams besides ourselves. I don’t know if that’s calculated or a random occurence, though.
At any rate, I’m happy to see the regional shaping up to be a good one. The Long Island teams are all maturing, and we’ve got a lot of nice, well known visitors like Rage and the Bobcats It should be fun.
Oh, and one other thing. . .I have a feeling that the Pacific Northwest regional might open up to more teams. I remember when we were in the early stages of planning the first Long Island Regional in 2000, we were told the minimum amount of teams necessary for a regional was 24. Right now, there’s only 20 spots at PNW, with 4 additional on the waiting list.
*Originally posted by -Lori *
**From my experience with FIRST…the capacities listed on the web site as site capacities…are ‘suggested’ limits. I believe that FIRST will let some of the ‘wait listed’ teams into particular regionals that do still have more room.
I was in VA last year and we had almost 70 teams. I thought the pit was a bit tight (but what pit isn’t??), but I thought 70 teams was a good number for that site. Right now it’s ‘full’ at 54 teams.
Wait and see…things may change! **
Last year VA was really great. There was at least one Delphi team there, the Robocards were there, quite a few NASA teams, and many, many rookies. That’s just to name a few. It was very competitive and very fun. The pit area might be increased depending on the field this year and the set up in the auditorium. 70 teams was a good number there, though according to the crew we were way behind schedule and we had about the same amount of matches as at nationals.
The Robocards were glad to be a part of the Virginia regional last year. However, due to budget cutbacks (as all teams are aware) we couldn’t afford the airfare for 2002. So, we will be driving up to Toronto for the first FIRST regional held outside the U.S (what’dya think of that, eh??).
While we didn’t qualify under the new “Championship” rules for 2002 and we’re bummed like all the other odd-numbered teams, it did make it easy to plan our Regionals, budget and fundraising. No Disney meant our budget was significantly reduced, which was on the cutting block anyways.
Now, we just need to come up with a better freebie than our rainbow slinkies and find a way to buy 'em!!
It seems to me that there would be a reason that all the regionals are “full,” but there are still spots open, according to sources. If the rookie reg. numbers are supposed to pick up as we get closer to the deadline, I figure that FIRST is trying to “reserve” a few spots for them. I figure they will wait until most all the teams planning to regester have done so, and then go through the waiting lists, and pull all the rookie teams off of those and fit them into the extra competition slots.
I found out the other day that many of the VA teams didn’t get into VCU. I hope that if FIRST is holding spots for some rookies they also allow the home teams into the regional. VCU is a great place to compete and I know some teams who are from VA who are waiting and I hope they get a spot.
It should be fun.